Effects of bilingualism on working memory : examination of interlingual connections.

Abstract

This present study seeks to investigate whether semantic and language context changes in information affect memory for it and whether performance will vary according to bilinguals’ proficiency level due to language system strengths. Results showed that overall memory performance is in accordance to proficiency level with balanced bilinguals (n=16) recalling more words than average bilinguals (n=33), who in turn recalled more words than unbalanced bilinguals (n=17). Both semantic change and language change did not result in poorer memory. In addition, balanced bilinguals and average bilinguals’ memory did not differ from each other when faced with context changes but the former consistently exhibited better memory than unbalanced bilinguals in all tested conditions. Implications of these findings are discussed.